It’s official. I’m numero cinco on the Top 12 of 2007 list from Christianity Today. Not much to say now. The shock is still wearing off. Read Full Entry

Popularity: 4% [?]

I was watching tv tonight and saw the commercial where the guy brings some Bud Light to the opera. The singer hits a high note and the bottles break. Funny spot.

[youtube]akvLIpTOmhM[/youtube]

But it got me thinking: can this really be done? I’ve heard of people breaking glass with their voice since watching cartoons as a kid. But it occurred to me that I’ve never actually seen it happen. I immediately Googled “Mythbusters break glass with voice” to see if an episode had been done. Sure enough, it had.

I couldn’t get the embed link to work but if you want to watch the whole segment, which is pretty interesting, here it is.

If you’re just interested in the actual result, see below.

[youtube]PMg_nd-O688[/youtube]

Popularity: 5% [?]

So I came home tonight and got my mail. As I was flipping through the usual junk mail, I discovered a catalog for the company that replicated my CDs. They had a large layout of my CD on the front page. At first I figured it was a customization they do for each client who has purchased something from them. Then I noticed it was actually camera-shot and not just images of the art. When I visited the NationWide Disc home page, there it was again!

Kind of silly, I know, but still fun. The real credit goes to the guy who designed the cover art and disc, Luke Flowers. And I’ve said it before, but check out his music at iTunes. It’s really a good album.

I also should mention that you can go and remix my songs even easier than before. A newish site called yourspins.com has created an online (or offline) mixer that lets you fidget with the volumes of the instruments and even change the sounds quite a bit too. They added my song “Almost Flew” yesterday and the community has already created about 12 custom mixes and a couple ringtones you can buy from the site.

Head over and add a couple mixes to the collection. It’s super-easy and surprisingly fun, too.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Radiohead has been in the news lately because they decided to offer the digital version of their CD “In Rainbows” for whatever the market would pay. Not surprisingly, many people were willing to download it for nothing. The band has been lauded for its edgy approach at marketing, but until recently there was only secrecy surrounding exactly how successful the venture was for them.

As a test, I went ahead and downloaded the CD, for free, at their website.

And even though Radiohead has denied its accuracy, several sources have reported a study of the effort that estimated the average payment for the CD was $6. And that was just the 38% of the people who now own a copy. In other words, of the people who DID pay something, the average was about 6 bucks. If you figure in the whole group, the average price per album ends up being $3.17. That’s the estimated take of $3.8 million divided by $1.2 million, the estimated number of downloads.

So, Radiohead has $3.8 million dollars. It’s money they didn’t have before and money they didn’t have to share with the record company. Cool. You could consider it a success if you want. I think they probably made some new fans and got a lot of attention that wouldn’t have been there. Plus, they now have a mailing list that’s over 1 million strong. That’s worth something. But, if they had simply set the price at $6, which seems to be the market value, do you think they would have earned more or less? I’m going to say more. I think there’s the chance of lowering the perceived value of a thing when you give it away for free.

I’ve said it before, but I think people expect free. And that’s not good for musicians. It’s even worse for record execs. And people will always be able to get it for free if the REALLY want to. My CD is online for free if you know where to look. I didn’t authorize it and I don’t necessarily condone it, but I think even if I got the site shut down that is hosting or promoting the file, people would just find another host and promotional vehicle. It’s in our nature to find the best deals out there and if we have the choice of legitimately getting something for something or something for nothing, I think most people choose the latter.

This whole thing has really made me consider re-pricing my own CD today.

I’d love to hear what you think.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Have you ever wondered what you can do to help introduce people to your favorite independent music artist (or author or fine artist) friend? A musician without a label or an author without a formal publisher doesn’t have the publicity machine that gets their “signed” colleagues noticed. They often have to rely on word of mouth for at least a good portion of their publicity. If you know someone (even if they aren’t me) there are some things you can do to really give them a boost and help spread the word.

1. Write a blog review. Do you have a blog? Use that medium to tell your circle of friends about your indie artist friend (referred to here on out as your IAF). Even if you don’t think you have a lot of readers, you would be surprised what one little inbound link can do for a search engine ranking.
2. Write a peer review. Chances are, you probably don’t have your own blog. You can still review your favorite IAF. Go to where ever your IAF’s work is for sale. Amazon.com? CDbaby.com? iTunes? All of these stores have a built in customer review mechanism and studies show that people who buy products online are VERY INFLUENCED by peer reviews.
3. Request them. Do you listen to any independent music podcasts? Do you listen to the radio? Some stations would never play an “unknown” artist, but you’d be surprised how many would. You don’t have to be annoying about it, but if you know of a station or podcast that’s friendly to music that’s out of the mainstream, you’ll probably have some luck requesting your IAF’s stuff with them.
4. Support them in word and deed. Of course I would expect that you would contact them and let them know you love their stuff, but sometimes people don’t feel comfortable doing that. Trust me, it means a lot. By word AND deed, I mean, buy their product. I started to rant about downloads and stealing and confusing conglomerate mega-labels with starving indie artists, but I’m not going to bother. It’s simple: cast a vote with your dollar.

I do want to take a second and recognize that there have been many people who have done these things for me. Had I not been encouraged to pursue my music, I wouldn’t have a CD. Had I not been reviewed by a blog or magazine here or there, I probably wouldn’t have been taken seriously by other people. If no one was willing to buy my music, I wouldn’t have bothered duplicating a CD. It really does snowball, to exploit an overused metaphor. So thanks–you know who you are.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Finally got the latest issue of CCM Magazine. It’s a double issue for November - December.

I had a heads up that a review was coming, but nothing more. The review is positive and gives the CD a 3.5 out of 5.

New artist Jeff Caylor leaps onto the scene with his independent album release, Okay. Stylistically, the album dips its toe into several genre pools to complement the subject matter of Caylor’s thoughtful, contemporary lyrics. Each genre, however is closely related to the next, effectively creating a common thread throughout.

Having produced the album in addition to writing it and playing the instruments, Caylor wears many hats–very fashionably, I might add. Get a front seat on the Jeff Caylor bandwagon as this enjoyable debut may not be a fluke.

Okay, that last part isn’t completely accurate. In fact, I have a lot of people to thank for their help in this project. They are listed here.

If you want to read the whole review, pick up the latest issue of CCM Magazine. I’m guessing they’ll have it online at some point this month, but for now it’s just in print.

Popularity: 5% [?]